Planners approve Gas Networks Ireland’s €200m investment to cut emissions

Planners have given Gas Networks Ireland (GNI) the go ahead for a €200 million plan to slash carbon emissions, the State company has confirmed. GNI operates the network that supplies natural gas to homes and businesses in Ireland from domestic and international sources. Planners in Dumfries & Galloway Council in Scotland have given the Irish company permission for €200 million worth of work on key parts of a pipeline that supplies 80 per cent of this country’s gas.

GNI intend to fit electric motor drives to compressor stations on the Moffat Interconnector, which connects Ireland’s system to a broader European network from which it imports large quantities of natural gas. According to the company, the project will cut its overall carbon dioxide emissions by 87,000 tonnes a year, a 42 per cent reduction, while maintaining the pipeline’s reliability. Ireland imports gas through the interconnector, mostly from Britain or Norway, so the compressor stations are key to the country’s energy security.

The stations compress the gas to maintain the pressure needed to transport it through undersea pipes that connect with Ireland’s own network. British Ambassador to Ireland Kara Owen on current Anglo-Irish relations, trade opportunities, and the possibility of a Brexit reversal Listen | 39:03 The electric motors will replace existing turbines driven by natural gas, cutting emissions to zero. GNI says the project is part of a wider plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions from its operations.

Dumfries & Galloway Council’s ruling covers compressor stations at Beattock and Brighouse Bay in southwest Scotland. Natural gas is used to generate around half this country’s electricity needs, while it provides energy to manufacturing, particularly the pharmaceutical industry, responsible for much of the Republic’s lucrative corporate tax returns. Many homes use the fuel for heating and cooking. GNI’s director of assets and infrastructure, Brian Sheehan, welcomed the council’s decision.

“Around 80 per cent of the gas we use in Ireland passes through these stations,” he noted. Sheehan added that they played a key role in the country’s energy security. “The planning permission is a positive step forward in delivering this infrastructure and we continue to work closely with stakeholders in Ireland and Scotland as the project progresses,” he said.